Season 1, Episode 9: Friend of the King
Friend of the King
The Bible says in Matthew 24:35, "Heaven and Earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away." There's really nothing permanent in this world yet. Every single one of us are searching for it. We want stability and permanence. And if you think about it, even in our relationships, we desire so much to have lasting relationships and we should. Many of us were afraid of getting married because all we've seen broken relationships, broken marriages, but we desire deep down for that relationship that'll last for the rest of our lives.
I don't know if you've noticed, but whenever you get into a rhythm with a job, you get comfortable. You've been there for a while and even though maybe you don't like it as much as you should, you find it hard to leave because you found some stability in a place.
Whether we like it or not, all of us desire some kind of consistency and permanence. And no matter what you try to hold onto in the world it will not and cannot last forever. But there is a promise from God that I'm gonna talk about today that I believe can show you something that's truly permanent that lasts forever, and it can last your whole life here and continue on.
Our Relationships Don’t Often Last
When I was in kindergarten and first grade, I went to a small private school and one of my classmates I was really close to and we became like best friends. I don't know if you remember having friends at such an early age that pre-K, kindergarten, first grade, but friendships back then, it felt like they would last forever. You made a friend on the playground and it felt like you guys were always going to be friends, that you would be joined at the hip all the time. So back in this time, me and this friend, we were really close and we spent all this time together at school. But after first grade, I ended up going to be homeschooled for the rest of my schooling. And from then on out, I don't think we've had any kind of contact. But even now, looking back, I even remember his name. It was crazy at the time I thought that friendship would last forever. But like so many friendships, you go through a time of being really close and you drift apart as you grow older. And it can be difficult to look back on the friendships you used to have. And as I've moved around a lot of my life, it can be difficult to look back on the people that you used to be close to because you miss that close relationship.
I'll tell you, those relationships from the past, we still value them. They're still important to us. I think deep down we wish we were still close like we were at one point. And I think that's what makes this promise today so valuable for our lives. Because in a world that's constantly moving and things are constantly happening and refiguring and not a lot feels sturdy, we have a promise from God that says he is with us. But even deeper that we are found to be friends of God.
John 15:15 it says, "No longer do I call you servants for the servant. Does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends for all that I have heard from my father I've made known to you." Proverbs 17:17. "A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who takes closer than a brother."
Friend of the King
I want to talk about this idea of being a friend of God just a little bit further because honestly, I didn't know a lot about what this truly meant but John MacArthur breaks down this verse a lot, and he gives some really powerful insight to what this means, and I think it can be powerful for your life as well. He said, "slaves did not usually have an intimate relationship with their earthly masters. The slave would normally not know what his master was doing. They merely instructed them as to what they wanted them to do. And he tells about this idea that in Bible times in the Middle East the kings and emperors of that time would have select groups of people that were called the Friend of the King, or Friends of the Emperor."
If you remember from some other Bible stories, not just anybody was allowed to talk to the king. The story of Esther, for instance, she was terrified to go and talk to the king even though they were married. If you had not been invited to the King's presence, you could have been killed for showing up unannounced. Yet, the circle of friends could come and they could talk to him pretty much whatever they wanted to.
But John MacArthur takes it one step further and shares that those friends even had the right to show up to the king's bed chamber in the morning. They had the closest and most intimate relationship with the king. He ends the conversation with. "It is that kind of intimate access that Jesus graciously grants to his friends." Instead of being called slaves and being forced to the outside and not getting to, to be in the presence. God has called his friends and he's given us full access to be in his presence, to be in the presence of God.
So what does that really mean for us? When I was a teenager, I was pretty outgoing and friendly. My brother was a couple of years younger and we were a lot different. We still are a lot different. But especially in high school, he was pretty withdrawn and he was pretty shy. He's changed a lot over the last several years, but at that time he was pretty shy. And people would come up to me all the time and they would tell me, "Your brother's so quiet,
he just doesn't talk a whole lot, does he?" I would have to tell them, "He's quiet here but you should really see him at home" Because whenever I was 16-17, I had my license and we would go and we would drive into town or wherever we would want to go. And I tell you this quiet kid to everybody else would talk nonstop. For the entire drive with me, I could barely get a word in, but whenever we went into a crowded room, he wouldn't say a single sentence. But the reason he would open up so much to me was because he felt comfortable. He was comfortable around me, but really didn't want to talk around a bunch of people. But he knew he could just be totally himself around me. He could embarrass himself. We could laugh about it and move on.
And this is what it means to be a friend of God. It means that God has opened the door to you so that you can be comfortable with him. You don't have to go find a priest. You don't have to go to a specific place. You can be wherever you are and just say, "God, I wanna talk to you." And he's right there. His presence is right there.
More than that, we can come to Him open. And honestly, we don't have to, we don't have to come up with some elaborate or impressive prayer. Even more than that, scripture shows us that God just wants that honesty. He'd rather us be humble and just come to Him truthfully. Rather than come up with some elaborate prayer. You can share with him the deepest things in your life, the struggle, the good and bad, the hopes, the dreams.
Even if you look at the friends of Jesus, they got to be part of some really intimate moments with him. They got to be close to him. They also asked questions whenever they didn't understand something, they would talk to them when they hurt and were worried about their family. They told Him and asked for help when they were in the middle of a storm. They told Him about their fear. The disciples they lived life, the good, the bad, the ugly, and talk to Jesus about it. And I believe that's what we're able to do, that we can come to God truthfully and honestly, the good, the bad, the ugly.
We can just be there with God. And he's opened that door to us as friends that we can come to him not understanding and not getting what's going on in our lives. And that's the great part about it, is that in a world that's constantly moving and shaking and changing, that we have a God that will always be there. We have a friend that will never leave and we never have to worry about him leaving. That stability of a friend, that stability of a relationship that we so crave and desire is right there within our grasp because we've been called friends of God. And so when it feels like the world around you is hopeless, remember that there's a friend that sticks closer than a brother.
We'll see you next time. Thank you so much for listening to this episode. We pray that it has helped you in your walk with God. If you don't mind, don't forget to subscribe, and drop a comment. There's a lot of other content that we're working on right now, so we will see you very soon.
